I love getting to play games with my kids, or even watch each other play for a while.  One of the best times for this is when we are on vacation, as we always seem to have dead time and plenty of travel time.  So I had a grand time on our recent trip to Ontario – and although I focused more on reading books, there were three games in particular that we shared.

The World Ends With You (DS)

In my recent ‘Whole Game In My Hand’ at RPGWatch I described this wonderful RPG as “at once a part of much of what Square Enix and other jRPG makers have produced and also a fresh break from the formulas those games seem destined to continue.  It is distinctive and quirky, and the teen-world j-pop feel is not likely to please everyone.  But if you can step out of the sword and sorcery world for a bit you will be rewarded with one of the coolest games you’ll play this year.”  It also has a really cool art style and an awesome soundtrack.

It was those last items that attracted my kids initially – the soundtrack is off my iPod but in permanent residence on my younger son’s iPod.  And our house is FULL of tween-angst, so Neku who I describe as “an angsty, sullen and introverted teen with spiky hair who awakes with amnesia and has a bad attitude towards everyone he meets” is a natural connection for the boys.  It took a bit to get into the game, learning the controls and styles, but what they eventually decided to spend a bit of time working on their skills and then share the single save game and work incrementally through the game.  They had fun with the WiFi bonuses and other ways the game rewards you, and each one worked at making Neku a reflection of themselves.  I was in the front seat driving and chiming in with info and suggestions and answering questions as they progressed and got stuck, but quickly they had things pretty well figured out.  Ultimately my younger son spent more time with this, dumping tons of time into getting the best pins and – in typical fashion for him – just grooving to the soundtrack pumping through his headphones.

This gets my younger son’s vote for ‘coolest game this year’!

Civilization Revolution (DS)

Make no mistake – this game *IS* ‘dumbed down’ or ‘Civ with training wheels’ or whatever you want to call it … but does it matter?  Personally I have mixed opinions on the matter – while I can readily see what was taken away from the game, and how it actually does diminish the overall experience, I really loved this game and have played it a lot since I got it.

More importantly, I loved the game publicly and showed it to my wife and kids so it was high on their ‘can we play it?’ list for the ride.  My older son had a gleam in his eyes when I told him he could play it.  The boys had never played a CIv game, but had watched me play some and found it completely fascinating if utterly confusing.  Their first pick for a leader was completely in line with their personalities – my younger son went for cultural and economic victories as Abraham Lincoln and my older son went for global domination as Ghengis Khan.  And then as Napoleon.  And so on … crushing enemies became pretty much a theme for him!

What I was taken with as I watched them play was that they had no idea of the minutia and depth they were missing, but rather were enticed by the ‘one more turn’ nature of the Civ games.  They were loving watching their world develop, even if they lacked all that much control over how it happened.  Of course after vacation they both asked about playing Civ IV on the PC, and that will doubtless happen soon … and they told me I could have my game back after just one … more … turn!

This was a real surprise for my kids, and my older son’s ‘favorite game in a while’.

Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)

My kids were anguished watching this box just sit on the counter unopened for over a week before we went on vacation – as far as they were concerned this was *their* game, it just happened to belong to me.  They were the masters of Guitar Hero III, for one thing, and I liked music that they thought should bear labels such as ‘no saxophones were harmed during the making of this music’.

Before we left for vacation I adjusted the GBA slot adapter to fit the boys’ ‘DS Phat’ systems … but first spent a bit of time playing myself!  Once I adjusted the strap and got settled, I ripped off on some of the early songs of the ‘Subway’ tier … including the seemingly omnipresent ‘Are you gonna be my girl’.  I found the game fun to play if a bit easy and it was more comfortable than I expected, but after a few songs I was ‘done’.  And honestly, I haven’t been back since.

My older son has dominated play of Guitar Hero: On Tour … well, he did until he finished it on Hard mode.  Now he hasn’t touched it again.  Both kids found it pretty easy, and not too bad in terms of comfort – but they were also switching back and forth after a few songs.  That is pretty clearly the way the game is meant to be played.  My younger son liked it because he never failed a song on easy mode, and my older son enjoyed getting 5-star performances on his first try!  Yeah, I guess it was pretty easy.

So based on their opinions, the game is a keeper but not one that will find heavy rotation with either of them.  And given that I haven’t picked it since coming back from vacation and my wife has shown no interest at all.  And I think part of that is the context: Guitar Hero in our house is ‘all about the social’ (apologies to Zune!).  For example, after vacation we had my wife’s sister and brother-in-law visit for the weekend, and a highlight was sitting in the basment taking turns on Guitar Hero – with my non-gamer wife and her non-gamer sister leading the charge!  You really lose much of that with the DS version.

Tags: Misc